Tomorrow I'll board a plane bound for Germany, I'll be back by the 4th of august though
where are you going in Germany?
Itzehoe.
was there last week.
One thing to be aware of is that all communication in the area is In German, even on the speakers on the train station.
ticket station is manly in German, but in one of the corner there is an English button.
Planning is important, and a backup plan is always a must. For example me, I was traveling from hamburg to Friedrichskoog-Spitze, ended up waiting for an train that never come in Itzehoe for two hours, ended up with that I had to take a taxi.
guided boat tours and bus tours is very often in German, but often have headsets in english.
outside Itzehoe:
I recommend to spend a day and take the train in to Hamburg and visit following places:
U-434 submarine a Tango-class submarine.
http://www.u-434.de/
9 floor of ship history.. recommend to take with you something to drink:
http://www.internationales-maritimes-museum.de/
http://www.capsandiego.de/
if you want to visit you'r family:
http://www.hagenbeck.de/startseite.html
for fun:
http://www.heide-park.de/heide-park/